August 21, 2026, 00:24 GMT | Insight
Instagram doesn't optimize for time spent by users on its platform because its ads wouldn't be as lucrative if they did, a
Meta Platforms executive told a Tennessee jury on Thursday as the social media giant kicked off its defense.
Instagram doesn't optimize for time spent by users on its platform because its ads wouldn't be as lucrative if they did, a Meta Platforms executive told a Tennessee jury on Thursday as the social media giant kicked off its defense.
Meta is defending against claims by the
State of Tennessee that the company intentionally designed Instagram to be deceptively addictive for young people and committed violations of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, in a trial that began July 27.
"Our algorithm is not tuned to maximize time spent. We think that's a misconception. Our algorithm is tuned to drive value for people," said Tessa Lyons, the vice president of product at Instagram.
Lyons, the defense's first witness and a mother of three, highlighted Meta's tools for teens, developed over the years, as helping to create a product she wants to be safe for her children to use when they're older.
"I wouldn't be here; I wouldn't leave for work every day when I have a 5-, 3-, and 1-year-old at home if I felt that I was building something that was bad for young people. That's just not what I would do, or what any of the senior leaders I work with would do. And I'm really proud of the work we've done. I think we've done industry-leading work to keep teens safe online," Lyons said.
Many of the teen account features cut the amount of time teens spend on Instagram, and the company does not condone problematic use, she said.
While Meta is primarily an advertising business, it's a "misconception" that the more time people spend on Instagram, the more money the company can make from ads, Lyons said.
"The ads actually become less valuable the more time you spend. So if you come to Instagram for a few minutes, we have fresh ads to show you, and we'll show you more of them," she said. "If you stay on Instagram for 30 minutes, we don't show you as many ads in that session, and the ads become more stale in our system. So we actually make less money off of the ads that we show you the longer you stay on."
Teens also aren't the biggest driver of revenue, she said.
"I think 2 percent of our revenue comes from teens, and if you think about it, teens don't have a ton of money, and we're an advertising business. We make money by selling ads to advertisers. Advertisers are generally trying to target audiences who spend a lot of money, which means that adults are their target audience," the executive said.
Teen accounts, introduced in 2024, restrict when teens get notifications, who they talk to, and teens cannot change the more restrictive default settings unless their parents agree, Lyons said.
"So parental supervision enables parents to see who their teen is connecting with, to change their settings, like how much time they can spend, and also to be notified if their teen is doing something on Instagram, like searching for content related to self-harm, which the parent would need to know about," she said.
— State rests —
Tennessee rested its case after Ohio pediatric psychologist Parker Huston's testimony Wednesday.
On cross-examination Thursday morning, Huston highlighted that there is insufficient evidence to say definitely whether certain features of Instagram, including infinite scroll or push notifications, cause depression, anxiety and other mental health issues for teens.
"I'm not saying there's zero, but there's not sufficient research for me to form an opinion that I'd be willing to share with you today that any one of those in isolation is leading to mental health harms at the moment. I imagine if we got back together in a year, I might have more information because I think people are trying to separate these things out in research currently," Huston said.
A lawyer for Meta further questioned Huston on whether teenagers he sees specify certain features on Instagram that they attribute to their mental health problems.
Huston responded that teens often talk about how they cannot put down their phones, or that the phones are always going off, but "I'd laugh at a teenager that came in that said, 'man, these push notifications really got me down today.' That's just, I don't know. I don't know how teens talk in most settings, but that's not what they say."
After the jury left, Meta moved for a directed verdict in favor of the company, saying the state did not adequately show evidence of misleading or deceptive statements, because the company failed to disclose its internal research.
"Silence by itself is not deceptive in the legal sense. A company doesn't violate the TCPA just because it has information it has to publish. There has to be a legal duty to disclose it," the Meta lawyer said.
The court chancellor overseeing the case, Russell T. Perkins, quickly denied the motion, and Meta's defense is set to resume Monday.
— MLex viewed the trial on Courtroom View Network.
Please email editors@mlex.com to contact the editorial staff regarding this story, or to submit the names of lawyers and advisers.
Tags
Sections:
Data Privacy & Security, Technology
Industries:
Computing & Information Technology, Social Media
Geographies:
North America, Tennessee, United States, Southeast USA
Topics:
Child Privacy